checking for nits

balletshoes

McKneff wrote: »

they really are easy to spot, just little white eggs, sticking like blummin' concrete to the hair.

exactly this - they look like little white eggs, stuck at intervals along the hair shaft, close to the scalp usually (and yes, check behind the ears and along the nape of the neck at the scalp, they are the most common places for the eggs to be found). They don't brush off like, for example, dandruff or flakes of skin do.

jackomdj

We do a thorough nit check every Sunday evening, we do it with a nitty gritty on conditioned hair (conditioner washed out though). It means if we find any it is easier to get them and the eggs out.

I have girls with long hair and we go through cycles as not every parent checks, I very rarely use shop bought stuff anymore, just take my time with the comb if we find a single one.

GwylimT

We use a nit comb on conditioned hair, ours have mousy blond hair so the eggs blend in very well. Thats how we also get rid of the louse and egg. So far we've has two episodes of nits.

pink_princess

I'm a parent of 3 children. 2 girls, 1 boy. Our son never got them, he is 17 now.
Our 2 girls, now 21 and 19 caught them all the time. I tried everything, from tea tree to the conditioners, lotions, potions, electric combs, you name it we tried it.

Then one day I sat in the Drs waiting room and I was literally crying I was so frustrated by them. I'd made the appointment to ask for advice.

An elderly lady beside me asked if I was ok and I told her everything, How I spent my nights washing and combing my girls hairs just for them to be reinfected within weeks which seemed like days.

She told me how she had dealt with them. She'd used the metal lice comb like their daily hair brush. Twice a day minimum on their dry hair before and after school and also on their wet hair.

I had nothing to lose so I started to do that. I was shocked that we could even get it through my eldest daughters hair as it is THICK! but it worked, now and again a live nit would come out on the comb and we'd scream and hoover it up but with doing it twice a day they never got a chance to lay eggs.

I wish I could of thanked her and bought her some flowers or something. It really did solve it over night.

katglasgow

Weekly check is probably fine. My daughter has had them far more often than my son.

maman

Posters are right about the conditioner, it just makes it easier to get the nit comb through.

Do keep checking. perhaps once a week, for the tiny, waxy white eggs.

Boys are less likely to catch them as they tend to have shorter hair and don't chat and play huddled up head to head like girls often do.Headlice jump head to head and then lay their eggs. So the greater the distance between heads and the less hair to land on helps.

peachyprice

McKneff wrote: »

Just check the hair when it is dry, nits are clearly visible, wet or dry, makes no difference.

This^^ I just used to have a look while having a cuddle on the sofa. The adult lice are really quite big and very easy to see, probably the size of a long ant. A quick rifle through will soon tell you if there are any.

System

After a particularly bad infestation i started doing my kids weekly on a Sunday night before school on the Monday. I was always on heightened alert. The slightest scratch on the head was enough for me to inspect their heads thoroughly.

McKneff

a nit is a nit, when it is hatched it is a louse o

maman

Judi wrote: »

After a particularly bad infestation i started doing my kids weekly on a Sunday night before school on the Monday. I was always on heightened alert. The slightest scratch on the head was enough for me to inspect their heads thoroughly.

Reading that has got me scratching '
Just wanted to comment that scratching around the neck is often a give away.